Thanks For the Memories
by Rianya
Summary: I never liked how Original Audrey got stuck with amnesia - just a short story to tie some loose ends together.


Thanks For the Memories

"I'm worried about her."

A tall man, with head full of salt and pepper, curly hair turned away from a viewscreen that showed a blond woman curled up in an easy chair, watching a viewscreen of her own that showed Haven in the midst of rebuilding. The sorrow that cloaked her was palpable.

"She needs something to do." The other man reasoned. He was shorter than the first man, with sandy blond hair liberally sprinkled with gray and a genial face that didn't match his hard blue eyes. But when he looked at the woman there was genuine tenderness.

"Something to take her mind off of her losses?" The first man speculated. "I agree, and I think I have just the thing."

He walked off, appearing in the woman's room a very short while later.

"Audrey, it occurs to me that we can remedy a situation now."

The woman looked up and smiled at the man. It tried for welcome but pain leaked from her like water from a colander.

"What's that, Vince?" She asked him, humoring him.

"Your original, Audrey – we can return her memories. I can do that but I think we'll need you to convince her to reenter the barn."

Audrey blinked and her smile grew just a shade more genuine.

"I've never felt right about being the cause of her amnesia. It was a terrible thing Howard did to her. She wasn't going to tell anyone, except maybe her Brad, if she's still with him."

"Shall we correct this injustice, my dear?" Vince asked her gently.

"Yes. Especially now that I'm gone from Haven. Audrey has a right to her life." Audrey responded with more of her original energy.

"Wonderful. Here's a map to her place." Vince held his hand out, a piece of paper in it that hadn't existed a moment before.

"Right now?" Audrey was a little shocked.

"Why not? Did you have other plans?" Vince's eyes twinkled and she found an unfamiliar, answering smile on her lips.

"You're a good friend, Vince." She told him, rising onto her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. The other man watched; jealousy and a hint of regret crossing his face. He wanted that relationship with her but she regarded him with pain and distrust that would probably never fade and when he was honest with himself he admitted that he deserved it.

He remained in place and just observed as Audrey straightened her hair and then left the place, appearing to exit from a small café in a large city. Vince rejoined him and they followed her on the viewscreen as she navigated her way to the apartment where a slender brunette with sad brown eyes answered the door to Audrey's knock.

"Hi. Do you remember me?" The blond asked.

"I do. You're Audrey too, right?" she responded with a smile that didn't entirely banish the desolation that lurked in those brown eyes.

"I am." Audrey's smile warmed. She was helping someone again and it felt the closest to "normal" that she'd experienced since entering the armory. "Do you want your memories back?"

The brunette's face conveyed shock, hunger, and a dawning hope in quick succession.

"Can you make that happen? Really?"

"Yes. You have to come with me. I can't do it here. You game?"

"Of course!"

The other Audrey dashed off a quick note and left it on the fridge in the small apartment and followed the blond out of the building.

"How is it going? You and Brad and life?"

"We're married. He wants a family but I – how can I hope to raise a child when I don't even know who I am?"

"We'll fix that." Audrey promised her original. "And then you can do whatever you want."

She and the other woman walked through the café doors into a large, very white, facility. Other Audrey's eyes widened in amazement and apprehension as visceral memories warned her of danger.

"It's okay." The blond assured her gently. "You aren't going to be hurt."

"Hello, my dear." Vince appeared in the archway of an opening a few steps away from them. "We have the apparatus prepared, if you just come this way?"

Other Audrey looked at Audrey anxiously.

"It's okay." She reassured her again. "I'm going to be with you the whole time."

Holding hands the two women followed Vince through the opening where he indicated a chair for Other Audrey to sit in. It looked farcically like an old-fashioned hair stylist's chair – the kind that had a hood that would dry hair. Other Audrey's eyes widened with bemusement that almost overrode her apprehension. Audrey gave her hand a squeeze and sat in the metal and leather chair next to the – memory chair?

As soon as the hood came down Other Audrey slumped into unconsciousness.

"Before we start…" Vince began, looking at Audrey, "How much memory am I giving her? Just to when she arrived at Haven to search for you? Until the day the barn took her memory? What?"

"All of it." Audrey told Vince firmly, still holding the other woman's hand. "She's strong and she's principled. We can trust her discretion."

"Very well." Lights began to play on Other Audrey's face and her eyes twitched and rolled under the closed lids. In a shorter time than seemed reasonable the lights faded away and the hood raised. Other Audrey breathed more deeply and then her eyes blinked open.

"Oooh, my head." She groaned, hands coming up to squeeze the temples.

"It'll fade in a moment." Vince assured her. "It's just the memories settling back into place."

"Who are you? What happened to Howard?" She asked dazedly.

"He – died." Vincent told her somberly. "I'm his replacement."

"Why did – ?" she faltered, her voice trailing off.

"Audrey, you're yourself again." The blond woman said gently. "And you're the only you on Earth now. I won't be back."

"Thank you…" the brunette told her softly. "I need to get back to Brad now. We have so much to talk about."

"Be well." The blond hugged the brunette and remained behind as Vince escorted the original Audrey Parker back to reality. She was joined by both men as soon as the original had left the building.

"I can't do this anymore." She told them simply, tears welling in her blue eyes and misery on her face. "I can't go on missing Nathan and grieving for Duke – knowing that my best friend died because of me and my love is trying to go on without either of us."

"Duke didn't die because of you, Dove." The sandy-haired man said uncomfortably.

"I failed him." She answered, her words just a whisper of pain.

"The armory is stable." Vincent told her. "You don't have to stay here anymore. It will function just fine without you. Do you want to go back to Haven?"

"Yes." Audrey replied, her jaw firming even though tears still threaded down her cheeks, "but not as Audrey Parker and not alone."

"Whatever you want, Dove." The other man assured her, genuine distress covering his face.

"Thanks, Dad." She smiled through her tears. "I'm sorry I have to leave but I just can't…"

"You don't have to convince me." He gathered her into a hug. "Go and do what you have to do. I'll be here."

Audrey returned that hug, feeling a connection to her father for the first and last time. Then she sat in the chair.

"Can you bring James back?" She asked Vince as she sat. "So I can raise my son myself? And pancakes – I want to like pancakes this time."

"Consider it done." Vincent smiled at her reassuringly. His eyes were sad but his smile was genuine. He loved Audrey and he was glad her pain was almost over and he had just the right overlay personality for her this time – but he was going to make sure the name was original. No more erasing the memories of innocent bystanders!

"Good bye." She whispered, to her father and Vincent, to Nathan and Duke, to Audrey Parker. She leaned back and closed her eyes and the lights began to play. 


End file.
